Sweeper

ABSTRACT

A sweeper for rugs and carpets has a housing supported on a frame, a side of which faces the carpet or rug to be swept and is provided with recesses in which the shafts of one or more rotary brushes and/or of various supporting wheels for the housing are journalled for rotation. These recesses are bridged and closed by self-retaining closure members.

United States Patent 1191 Leifheit et a1.

[11] 3,818,532 1 June 25, 1974 1 1 SWEEPER [75] Inventors: Gunter Leifheit; Johannes Liebscher, both of Nassau/Lahn, Germany [73] Assignee: Leifheit International Guenter Leifheit KG, Nassau/Lahn. Germany [22] Filed: Nov. 17, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 307,566

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 23, 1971 Germany 2157968 52 vs. C]. .f. 15/42 [51] Int. Cl A471 11/32 [58] Field of Search 15/4148, 496, 15/50 C, 79, 383

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3.159.860 12/1964 Colver 15/41 R Coult 15/42 Leifheit 1. /42

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 326.989

Primary ExaminerEdward L. Roberts Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michae1 Striker [5 7] ABSTRACT 10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 3/1930 Great Britain 15/41 R PATENTED JIJNZ 5 I974 SHEET 3 OF 3 SWEEPER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to sweepers, and more particularly to sweepers of the type which are especially suitable for sweeping of rugs, carpets and the like.

Sweepers of this type are already known. .They use one or more substantially cylindrical brush rollers that are mounted for rotation. The sweeper is provided on wheels or rollers on which it moves over the surface to be swept, and conventionally the brush roller or rollers are connected with one or more of these wheels so as to be driven thereby via suitable connecting components.

It is known to provide the housing of such sweepers with a separate supporting frame in which the axles of the brush roller or rollers and of the wheels are journalled for rotation. The insertions of these axles into the journal portions provided in the frame for this purpose must take place in axial direction of the respective axles, and to facilitate-the assembly of such a sweeper it is known to shift at least the axles of the wheels between the two spaced bearing supports or journals for the respective axle, elastically distending the frame in so doing, until the ends of the axle can enter into the bearing supports or journals. This, of course, brings with it certain disadvantages, as does the other proposal that has been made, namely to journal the axles in separate journals that are then connected with the frame.

The problem with all of these prior-art proposals is that they do not significantly reduce the difficulty of assembly of the sweepers, but on the other hand make the reliability with which the ends of the axles are retained, less than satisfactory. Moreover, it has been observed that it is necessary from time to time to disassemble the components for repairs, cleaning or replacement of in dividual parts, for instance of the wheels, of the brush rollers or the like, and that with the prior-art constructions this leads to a change in the positioning of the axles in their journal supports, which in turn results in less than optimum performance and reliability of the sweeper.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, accordingly, a general object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.

More particularly it is an object of the invention to provide an improved sweeper of the type here under discussion which is not possessed of the disadvantages of the prior art.

Still more particularly it is an object of the present invention to provide such an improved sweeper which assures a reliable journalling and retention of the axles of the wheels and/or the brush or brushes, and makes it possible to achieve this in a simple and inexpensive manner.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an improved sweeper in which the reliability of the journalling of the axles is not affected even over long periods of time and under heavy use of the sweepers, and in which even repeated disassembly and reassembly of the sweeper does not result in an undersirable changing of the positions of the various components relative to one another.

In keeping with these objects, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides, in a sweeper, particularly a sweeper for rugs and carpets, in a combination comprising a housing and a frame supporting the housing and having a side facing a surface to be swept. This side is provided with recesses. At least one rotary brush is provided, having a mounting axle. A' plurality of supporting wheels are provided, also having mounting axles. The axles of the brush and/or the supporting wheels are journalled for rotation in the recesses, and the latter are bridged and closed by self-retaining closure members extending across them.

This makes it possible to insert the axles not axially but radially into their respective journal supports, thus greatly simplifying the assembly. On the other hand it makes it possible to reliably retain the axles of the wheels and/or the brush, in any type of use.

It is clear that the axles need merely be inserted from the underside of the frame into the journal opening in the recesses, whereupon the recesses are closed by connecting the closure members. By making the closure members self-retaining it is not necessary to provide separate connecting components for them, such as screws, rivets or the like, and this further facilitates the ease of assembly and disassembly as well as saving the costs of providing these separate connecting components.

It is advantageous if the closure members are configurated as downwardly facing closures in the region of a respective group of wheels located adjacent one or the other end of the brush roller or rollers, and to provide them with openings through which the wheels can extend, with the closure members being configurated as shells. This assures not only a reliable retention of the various axles by the closure members, but also makes it possible to completely close the underside of the frame in the region of the respective journals for the axles, preventing in a reliable manner the entry of contaminants into the journals. Moreover, such a configuration also makes it possible to achieve the connection of the closure members with the frame at regions which are spaced from the journals, which is desirable. It is further advantageous to provide a journalling of the axles which amounts to a double journalling and provides for a precise vertical positioning of the axles in the respective journals; this is achieved by providing journal recesses located at opposite sides of the wheels and having socket-shaped supporting portions of the closure members extend locally into them.

It is particularly advantageous if the clamping members are provided at the end regions of the closure members, which clampingly engage connecting portions provided on the frame, in order to assure a reliable retention of the closure members even under the most adverse heavy-duty applications. Especially advantageous is a construction wherein the closure members are provided with sets or pairs of projections each of which can snap over and embrace a projection of the frame. This makes it possible to achieve a reliable nonself-releasing action, even if tolerance variations occur in the manufacture or if deformation occurs due to high stresses acting upon the components. On the other hand it is of course desirable to make the closure members rapidly and reliably removable. To achieve this it is further advantageous to provide them with apertures located in the space between the respective projections of each set or pair, so that an appropriate tool can be inserted from underneath through the apertures, into engagement with the clamping projections which can then be deflected to permit disengagement from the projection on the frame.

It is advantageous to have the axle of the brush roller journalled in a substantially U-shaped bracket, which in turn is vertically shiftably guided in appropriate vertical guides of the frame. In this case it is advantageous to provide those portions of the closure members which extend under the ends of the brush roller with depressions in order to prevent a contact of the brush roller even when the latter is in its lowest position permitted by the guide portions of the frame. In addition it is advantageous to provide for an extension or enlargement of the journals at least at one end of the brush roller, that is the journals for the axles of the wheels, and to have the enlargement extend in the direction of movement of the sweeper in order to permit compensating movement of the rollers or wheels during the vertical positioning of the brush roller.

The frame may advantageously be of one piece and be connected with the housing via coupling elements provided along its circumference. This makes it possible to install the brush roller or rollers and the wheels independently of the connection between the frame and the housing, and the necessary connection between the frame and the housing can be readily established without difficulties. Advantageously the frame itself is provided with apertures into which undercut projections of the housing can be inserted, so that an essentially tight no-play connection in vertical and in horizontal direction can be established between the frame and the housing without requiring additional connecting means. This type of connection also brings with it the further advantage that it can be readily and at any desired time released, if replacement of parts, inspection or cleaning so requires.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of-specific embodiments when read in connection with accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sweeper according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the sweeper in FIG. 1, with portions removed for illustration;

FlG. 3 is a section taken on line IIIIII of FIG. 2;

Flg. 4 is a section taken on line IV-IV of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line V\/ of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing the drawing in detail it will be seen that in FIGS. 1-5 we have illustrated an embodiment of a sweeper having a housing having a cover-like upper portion 11 and a frame-shaped lower portion 12. It carries a pivotable bracket 13 which is connectable with a long handle in known manner (not illustrated) so that by pushing and pulling on the handle the sweeper can be moved over a surface to be swept, for instance a rug, carpet or the like.

In the interior of the housing 10 there is fixedly connected and arranged a frame 14 which carries the essential components of the sweeper, that is the rotary brushes 15 and 16 and the wheels 17 and 18.

The purpose of providing the wheels 17 and 18 is not only to pennit movement of the sweeper over the surface to be swept, but also to drive the brushes 15 and 16 in rotation. The brush 15 is here configurated as a brush roller extending transversely of the housing and at the opposite lateral sides of it are arranged bottom wall portions 19 and 20 which can be flipped open and which. in the closed condition, provide chambers in which dirt picked up by the brush 15 becomes deposited. The additional brushes 16 illustrated in this drawing are cup-shaped and provided in the forward edge regions of the sweeper, their purpose being to draw in dirt from those lateral portions which are not reached by the roller 15, and to convey it into the region of the roller 15 for pickup by the latter. The brushes 16 are driven separately of one another by a respective one of the wheels 18, each brush 16 being turnable about an essentially vertical axis of rotation.

The brush roller 15 is provided at its opposite ends with contact zones which are in frictional engagement with the pairs of wheels 17 which are arranged in the region of these opposite ends for the purpose of driving the brush roller 15. They are mounted on the axles 21 which extend essentially parallel to the axis of the brush roller 15 and are journalled in the frame 14. The frame 14 is provided at opposite sides of the wall portions 19 and 20 with laterally spaced webs 22 which surround a chamber-like space 25 and have the wheels located in part between them, being provided at opposite sides with journals 23, 24 for the axles 21. This retains the axles 21 and provides for proper positioning of the wheels 17. These journals 23 and 24 are formed as recesses in the underside of the frame 14, that is the side which in the normal operation of the sweeper will face the surface to be swept. Thus, the axles 21 with the as sociated wheels 17 can be inserted from underneath very readily into these recesses 23 and 24. By appropriately selecting the distance between the adjacent webs 22 it is possible to avoid separate axial retaining means for the wheels on the axles 21, because these wheels can only move within the narrowly defined space 25 and cannot move on the axles 21 beyond this space.

Retaining members 26 are provided which serve to retain the axles 21 in the open recesses or journals 23, 24. These retaining members are illustrated in the exemplary embodiment as shelllike components which close the underside of the frame 14, that is they close the recesses 23 and 24. The retaining or closure members extend, as to their length and their width, over the entire region where the wheels 17 are journalled and where the brush 15 is journalled, and are provided only with openings 27 for the wheels 17. To make it possible to save material in the production of the sweeper, those portions of the closure members 26 which are directly opposite the journals are configurated as socket-shaped supporting portions 26 which engage the axles and support them.

Each of the members 26 covers the underside of the journalling region of the wheels located at one end of the brush roller 15. They are self-retaining, meaning that they are connected with the frame 14 without separate connecting instrumentalities. This is achieved in the illustrated embodiment by providing them at their opposite ends with inwardly projecting double clamping portions 28 which have at their free ends the projections 29 extending towards one another. The frame 14 is provided with correspondingly configurated transverse webs 30 which connect the longitudinal webs 21 and which can be embraced in clamping engagement by the double projections 28, 29 of the members 26, in such a manner that the projections 29 extend behind the webs 30.

Also in accordance with the invention. it is advantageous if the members 26 are provided with openings 31 in the region between the respective projections 28 of each pair, so as to permit the insertion of a tool from underneath through these openings 31, by means of which two of the projections 28 can be deflected to make them disengage from the webs 30.

It will be appreciated that assembly of the novel construction herein disclosed is very simple. It is merely necessary to insert the axles 21 which already carry the wheels, into the journals and to similarly insert the axle of brush roller 15. Then the projections 28 are made to snap behind the transverse webs 30 by exertion of pressure, and the members 26 are now in place. By inserting a tool through the respective openings 31 and acting upon the projections 28 in a sense deflecting them so as to release them from the webs 30, the members 26 can similarly be readily released and removed. This means that a removal of the wheels or brush rollers is readily possible at anytime, for cleaning, inspection or replacement.

The brush roller is joumalled in a bracket-shaped holder 32 in the illustrated embodiment, and the holder 32 in turn is vertically slidably mounted in vertical guides 33 of the frame 14 of engagement with the portions 22, so that they can be vertically displaced. The portions 34 of the members 26 which extend over the ends of the brush roller 15 are formed with depressions in order to permit undesired frictional engagement of the brush roller with them even when the latter is in the lowest position, and the inner longitudinally extending portions of the frame 14 and of the corresponding parts of the members 26 are provided with openings permitting free shifting of the brush roller 15.

The bracket 32 is spring loaded and is associated with an adjusting arrangement 36 which is already known in its construction. The springs 35 which act upon the bracket 32 bear upon the receptacles 19 and in such a manner that they attempt to shift the bracket 32 and the brush roller 15 into an upper position, whereas the adjusting device 36 can be operated to counteract this. The portions constituting the collecting chambers 19 and 20 are located between the adjacent wheels 17, being mounted on the axles 21 thereof for pivoting movement.

The frame 14 is a separate component, meaning that it is completely separate from the housing 10 with which it is subsequently connected. The establishment of such connection is made very simple if the frame which in this embodiment is to be connectedwith the lower portion 12 of the housing 10 is provided with a portion 37 which engages the lower housing portion 12 and is formed with openings 38 of substantially T- shaped configuration. The inner wall of the housing is provided with approriately dimensioned and configurated undercut projections 40 formed on the members 39, and the projections 40 can be inserted through the openings 38 so as to engage the vertically extending shoulders 41 and 42, thus preventing a relative movement in vertical and horizontal direction between the frame 14 and the lower housing portion 12, as will be clearly evident from FIGS. 2 and 3. The connection is stabilized by providing several of the coupling components at each side of the housing and frame.

It will be appreciated that various modifications of the illustrated embodiment are possible and are within the intent of the present invention. For instance, the cup-shaped brushes 16 could be omitted or could be replaced by an additional brush 15, just as such a brush could be provided in addition to the existing illustrated brush l5 and the brushes 16. The brush 15 could also be directly joumalled in the frame 14 if it is not necessary or desired to make it adjustable in vertical direction. The members 26 could be configurated separately, one for each journal recess, and the portions 19 and 20 forming the chambers for collection of dirt could be produced in other manner, for instance of one piece while leaving an opening for the brush 15 to extend through. The housing could of course be made of one piece instead of the two pieces 11 and 12. Synthetic plastic material is particularly suitable for making many of the components, not only because of the inexpensive manner in which the components can be produced but also because of the light-weight of such material.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find va useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a sweeper, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

1. In a sweeper, particularly a sweeper for rugs and carpets, a combination comprising a housing; a frame supporting said housing and having a side facing a surface to be swept and being provided with journalling recesses; at least one rotary brush means having a mounting axle; a plurality of supporting wheel means also having mounting axles, the axles of at least one ofsaid means being freely received and joumalled for rotation in said recesses; axle-retaining closure members extending across and closing said recesses at said side of said frame; and cooperating snap-coupling portions on said closure members and said frame for releasably connecting the former to the latter.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1, said recesses having journalling depressions each in part accommodating one of said axles; and wherein said closure members have supporting portions which extend in part into the respective depressions for supporting said axles against displacement.

3. A combination as defined in claim 1, the coupling portions on said frame comprising single coupling members; and wherein said coupling portions on said closure members comprise respective sets of dual coupling members adapted to embrace and clampingly engage one of said single coupling members.

4. A combination as defined in claim 3, said closure members having openings located intermediate the dual coupling members of the respective sets for insertion of a tool from the exterior of said housing. so as to deflect said dual coupling members out of engagement with the respective single coupling member.

5. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said wheel means comprise at least two wheels which are respectively positioned in the region of the opposite ends of said axle of said brush means; and wherein said closure members are shells each of which closes a recess accommodating the axles of a respective group and provided with openings through which the wheels of the respective group extend.

6. A combination as defined in claim 1, said frame 8 comprising vertical guide portions; and further comprising a bracket being vertically displaceable along said guide portions, said bracket being provided with some of said journalling recesses for said brush means.

7. A combination as defined in claim 6, said closure members having portions extending under the end regions of said brush means and provided with depressions.

8. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein at least the recesses at one end of said brush means are elongated in the direction normal to the elongation of said mounting axle of said brush means and parallel to the plane of the said frame,

9. A combination as defined in claim 1, said frame being of one piece; and further comprising connecting portions provided along the periphery of said frame for connecting the latter to said housing,

10. A combination as defined in claim 9, said connection portions being openings; and further comprising a plurality of undercut projections provided on said housing and receivable in the respective openings. 

1. In a sweeper, particularly a sweeper for rugs and carpets, a combination comprising a housing; a frame supporting said housing and having a side facing a surface to be swept and being provided with journalling recesses; at least one rotary brush means having a mounting axle; a plurality of supporting wheel means also having mounting axles, the axles of at least one ofsaid means being freely received and journalled for rotation in said recesses; axle-retaining closure members extending across and closing said recesses at said side of said frame; and cooperating snap-coupling portions on said closure members and said frame for releasably connecting the former to the latter.
 2. A combination as defined in claim 1, said recesses having journalling depressions each in part accommodating one of said axles; and wherein said closure members have supporting portions which extend in part into the respective depressions for supporting said axles against displacement.
 3. A combination as defined in claim 1, the coupling portions on said frame comprising single coupling members; and wherein said coupling portions on said closure members comprise respective sets of dual coupling members adapted to embrace and clampingly engage one of said single coupling members.
 4. A combination as defined in claim 3, said closure members having openings located intermediate the dual coupling members of the respective sets for insertion of a tool from the exterior of said housing, so as to deflect said dual coupling members out of engagement with the respective single coupling member.
 5. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said wheel means comprise at least two wheels which are respectively positioned in the region of the opposite ends of said axle of said brush means; and wherein said closure members are shells each of which closes a recess accommodating the axles of a respective group and provided with openings through which the wheels of the respective group extend.
 6. A combination as defined in claim 1, said frame comprising vertical guide portions; and further comprising a bracket being vertically displaceable along said guide portions, said bracket being provided with some of said journalling recesses for said brush means.
 7. A combination as defined in claim 6, said closure members having portions extending under the end regions of said brush means and provided with depressions.
 8. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein at least the recesses at one end of said brush means are elongated in the direction normal to the elongation of said mounting axle of said brush means and parallel to the plane of the said frame.
 9. A combination as defined in claim 1, said frame being of one piece; and further comprising connecting portions provided along the periphery of said frame for connecting the latter to said housing.
 10. A combination as defined in claim 9, said connection portions being openings; and further comprising a plurality of undercut projections provided on said housing and receivable in the respective openings. 